Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
10977434 | Journal of Dairy Science | 2012 | 7 Pages |
Abstract
This study investigated the effect of lameness on liveweight (LW) in pasture-fed dairy cattle. The data comprised 222,446 averaged daily LW measurements from 828 lactations of 542 mixed-age cows in a seasonally calving, pasture-fed New Zealand dairy herd. The LW measurements for individual cows were aggregated into weekly averages and analyses conducted to evaluate the effect of a diagnosis of lameness on LW change after controlling for the effect of week in milk, parity, LW at calving, breed, calendar month, and season. In lame cows, LW decreased for up to 3Â wk before lameness was diagnosed and for up to 4Â wk after treatment. Total LW loss arising from a single lameness episode was, on average, 61Â kg (95% confidence interval: 47 to 74Â kg). The results from this study demonstrate how LW records for individual animals can be used to enhance a herd manager's ability to detect lame cows and present them for treatment. The methods presented here show how daily LW monitoring might be used as a tool for early detection of lameness in dairy cattle.
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Authors
J.I. Alawneh, M.A. Stevenson, N.B. Williamson, N. Lopez-Villalobos, T. Otley,